好事 meaning in English

hǎoshì

good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed"); charity

HSK 2noun14 strokes

Meaning of 好事

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

hǎoshì

good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed")
charity
happy occasion
Daoist or Buddhist ceremony for the souls of the dead

hàoshì

to be meddlesome

How to use 好事

好事 (hǎoshì) usually means a good thing or a good deed, and it often appears in phrases like 做好事 (zuò hǎoshì, to do a good deed). It can also be said with irony, meaning a fine mess. Example: 这是一件好事。(Zhè shì yí jiàn hǎoshì.) This is a good thing.

Put 好 (hǎo, good) in front of 事 (shì, matter or thing) and you get a good thing. Picture someone handing you a gift and saying it is a 好事.

Common mistake: Learners often miss that 好事 has a second reading, hàoshì, where 好 is fourth tone and means meddlesome. The tone change works the same way as in 爱好 (àihào). Also use the measure word 件 (jiàn), not 个, in careful speech: 一件好事.

好事 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

我wǒ认rèn为wéi它tā真zhēn是shì好hǎo事shì。

I think it's a really good thing.

那nà不bú会huì是shì一yī件jiàn好hǎo事shì。

That wouldn't be a good thing.

我wǒ只zhǐ想xiǎng做zuò好hǎo事shì。

I only wanted to do some good.

电diàn视shì上shàng没méi有yǒu什shén么me好hǎo事shì。

There's nothing good on television.

年nián轻qīng的de时shí候hòu多duō看kàn点diǎn好hǎo书shū是shì件jiàn好hǎo事shì。

It's a good thing to read good books when you are young.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

好 hǎo · good · 6 strokes

事 shì · matter · 8 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 好事.

最好	zuìhǎo	best; had better ...; it would be best to ...
好吃	hǎochī	tasty; delicious
好看	hǎokàn	good-looking; nice-looking; (of a movie, book, TV show etc) good
好听	hǎotīng	pleasant to hear
没事儿	méishìr	to have spare time; free from work
爱好	àihào	to like; to be fond of; to take pleasure in; to be keen on; interest; hobby
好玩儿	hǎowánr	erhua variant of 好玩[hao3 wan2]
事情	shìqing	affair; matter; thing; business
好像	hǎoxiàng	as if; to seem like
故事	gùshi	old practice
不好意思	bù hǎoyìsi	to feel embarrassed; to find it embarrassing
好多	hǎoduō	many; quite a lot

Questions about 好事

What does 好事 mean?

好事 (hǎoshì) means "good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed"); charity" and is used as a noun.

How do you write 好事?

好事 is made of 2 characters: 好 (6 strokes), 事 (8 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.

Is 好事 an HSK word?

Yes. 好事 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What does 好事 mean when said sarcastically?

Said with an ironic tone, 好事 means something like 'a fine thing indeed' and points to a bad result. For example, 看你干的好事 (kàn nǐ gàn de hǎoshì) means 'Look at the mess you made.'

How do I say someone is nosy using 好事?

Read it as hàoshì, with 好 in the fourth tone, meaning to like getting involved in other people's business. You can say 他很好事 (tā hěn hàoshì), 'He is very meddlesome.' Context and tone tell you which reading is meant.